Following up on our very successful Annual Fun Day, where with your help, we raised a magnificent £1,919.17, we are delighted to announce that we will be having another Bake Off at the school’s Christmas Bazaar on Wednesday, 12th December 2012 from 11.00am to 12.30 pm.

We are thrilled that Mary Berry (a celebrity chef who recently judged ‘The Great British Bake Off’ on BBC2) has agreed to come and judge – how lucky are we?

We will be running two competitions with prizes, presented by Mary Berry.

Six Seasonal Cup Cakes, Presented on a Plate is purely for our girls but the ‘Friends of Alfriston’ Bake Off – Yule Log is open to all staff, family, ex-pupils and friends of Alfriston. No rules just create and bake!…except that we would ask you, please, to follow the ingredients listed to ensure that everyone’s entry is the same. However, you will be judged on presentation, so be as creative as you like!

2. For the sponge, place the eggs and sugar together in a larger bowl. Using an electric hand whisk, beat the mixture until it is pale, light and frothy.

3. Sieve the flour and cocoa powder into the bowl and carefully fold into the egg mixture, using a metal spoon and taking care not to beat any of the air out of the mixture.

4. Pour in to the lined tin and spread out into the corners. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 8 -10 minutes until pale golden and the sides are shrinking away from the edge of the tin.

5. Place a piece of baking parchment bigger than the Swiss roll on the work surface. Invert the cake on to the paper and remove (and count!) the paperclips and peel away the baking parchment.

6. Trim the edges of the cake with a sharp knife and make a score mark 2.5cm in along the longer edge. Roll up (from the longer edge) using the paper, rolling it up with the paper inside. Set aside to cool.

7. While the cake is cooling, make the icing. Melt the chocolate and 300ml of the cream in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Refrigerate until cool and thickened. Whip the remaining cream.

8. Uncurl the cold Swiss roll and remove the paper. Spread a third of the icing over the surface then spread the whipped cream on top, and re-roll tightly. Cut a quarter of the cake off from one end, on the diagonal. Transfer the large piece of cake to a serving plate and angle the cut end to the side of the large cake to make a branch. Cover the surface of the cake with the melted apricot jam.

9. Put the remaining chocolate icing into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe long thick lines along the cake, covering the cake completely so it looks like the bark of a tree. Cover each end with icing or, if you wish to see the cream, leave un-iced.

The school year is well under way and the new pupils have settled in well and are fast becoming used to our routines and expectations. The girls are enjoying using the refurbished food technology room, and many have made positive comments about the refurbished toilet block too! The hens have had an extension built to their run to accommodate the chicks (who are now as big as the others) and seem to be enjoying the extra space.

Plans are in hand to start the pool build in January 2013. We know that this will cause some disruption, and quite a bit of mess, but the end result will make it all worthwhile. Hopefully, the build will be complete within the year and we can celebrate with a grand opening ceremony in Spring 2014, before diving in.

We were honoured to have several special guests in the school last week, to join in with our tree planting ceremony courtesy of the Woodland Trust. The girls can now enjoy watching a beautiful cherry tree growing in our recreation area between the benches, providing shade in the summer and blossom and fruit throughout the year. We’d like to give many thanks to Lady Howe for coming along to help us to plant the tree, and to Dilys Machin from the Woodland trust for providing it.

Now that the colder weather is setting in, may I remind you to ensure that your daughter has a warm coat with her name in it. Coats should be in a plain dark colour, but hats and scarves can be any colour you choose.

We have lots of activities and events planned for the run up to Christmas, and I hope to see many of you at the school during the term. I would like to thank all those of you who have supported our fund-raising activities, and who have attended the Friends of Alfriston events.

Kind regards, Jinna Male

Read the whole newsletter on Alfie’s Zone; you’ll need the enrollment key which you can get by calling the school office on 01494673740.

All of the Alfriston Karate Club attended a local junior competition on Saturday, 20 October 2012 at Booker Judo Centre to either compete against other local mainstream Karate Clubs and/or to do a demonstration to the audience of parents, friends and supports of the 200 competitors. The atmosphere was electric with lots of encouragement coming from spectators, fellow competitors and coaches – everyone had an amazing time.

Stuart Wilson runs Alfriston Karate Club at Alfriston School on Saturday mornings, 11.00 am to 12.00 noon, during term time with a core of ten, regular participants from Alfriston, Stony Dean and Beaconsfield High Schools. We always welcome new members so please come along and have a taste of a Karate session, then you too could be involved in the next event – karate is a fun way to improve your level of fitness, a good discipline and a great way to make new friends.

The Annual Disability Tennis Festival took place on Wednesday, 17 October 2012, at Halton Tennis Club with Heritage House School, Maplewood School, Penn School and Alfriston School participating in the activities throughout the day. All of Alfriston year 9 pupils worked on skills during the morning and then after lunch played fun games. Halton Tennis Club has such wonderful facilities which the participants thoroughly enjoyed using, especially the numerous indoors courts and during the sunny spell, the excellent outdoor courts. Halton Tennis Club coaches were led by Alex Barnes who delivered fun and energetic sessions for all abilities. Our year 9 pupils had a great experience and have been encouraged to attend the disability courses which are run at the Halton Tennis Club on Thursday and Friday twilight sessions. If you’re interested in your daughter attending such a tennis course, kindly contact Mrs Knibbs at Alfriston School. Very well done to all of Alfriston Year 9 who worked so very hard throughout the day and were superb ambassadors for the school.

3rd September 2012 – 10th September 2012
Wow what a wonderful summer full of sport we have had with the Olympics and Paralympics, but it did not stop there as a group of girls selected from year 10 and year 11 have been involved in the Spirit in Motion – Finland Project. In the past Alfriston have successfully worked on projects with Green Park and once again a bid had been granted for a group of pupils from a disability school in Finland to spend a week at Green Park with eight of our pupils to engage in a programme of activities with a focus on the Paralympics and to follow the Paralympic values.
Our Finnish visitors arrived before the start of our new academic year, so Alfriston group gave up some of their holiday to engage in a programme of activities which included:
• A visit to Stoke Mandeville to see the Paralympic exhibition which told the
story of how the Paralympics began, along with a taster of Wheelchair
Tennis and the Ability Bikes. The press were there to report the visit and
Meridian TV recorded the occasion of the unique Project – you may have
seen either or both of the reports.
• Numerous activities at Green Park from low ropes, archery, climbing,
cargo nets, challenges and orienteering.
• The Finnish group had a visit to Alfriston School and joined in with the
preparation sessions for the day at the Paralympics, followed by a day at
the Olympic Park with Alfriston school which they thought was awesome.
• A cultural visit to Windsor Castle and a demonstration with samples of
making fudge.
• A tour of the Olympic and Paralympic Rowing Centre at Dorney Lake.
• A visit to Wycombe Museum to sample some of our local history and a
session on Paralympic Logo Felt Making.
• A visit to Odds Farm.
• An evening at Aylesbury Disability Youth Club
• Sessions of 1:1s throughout the Project to work on personal development.
• A celebration of the Project concluded with a party at Alfriston School
with the groups sharing their experiences.
Alfriston pupils appreciate that they have had an amazing experience and are now working towards the second part – they are awaiting confirmation of going to Finland to meet again their Finnish friends to engage in snow activities and to visit their school in Kuopio.